Bait Ending Explained: Does Shah Become James Bond?

Prime Video’s ‘Bait‘ begins as the story of an actor named Shah trying to land a role of a lifetime, but as the six-episode season unfolds, more layers of his story come to light. By the end, it becomes more about who Shah is, how he sees himself, and how he wants the world to see him. Rather than the rags-to-riches story of a small-time actor making it big against all odds, the show delves into the complex themes of love, family, and the sense of self. The season ends on a very different note than it began, leaving the audience with a lot of questions about the fate of the characters, especially Shah. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Bait Plot Synopsis

Shah Latif has received the audition for the role of James Bond, but he blows it after failing to perform the monologue that would single-handedly sign the deal for him. Frustrated by his repeated failures, the director, who had advocated for him, tells him to leave and move on from the role. Shah finds an opportunity about leaking himself as one of the front runners for the next James Bond, and his plan works. He gets a second audition, but this publicity doesn’t come without hate. He is hated by the fans of the franchise for ruining it, while the people from his community call him a sellout.

Things get more complicated when people start to throw things at his house, including the severed head of a pig. While his family would have liked to throw it away, Shah secretly keeps it and continues talking to it. This is one of the first signs of his declining mental health, and while the others around him might not have the full picture, enough has happened to make them worry about him. While his personal life is in shambles, including with his ex-girlfriend, Yasmin, whom he is still in love with and who seems to hate his guts, his professional chances don’t look so great either, especially as the threats and assaults from maniacs build up and things start to get much worse, at least before they start getting better.

Does Shah Get the Role? Why Doesn’t He Say “James Bond”?

After all the crash-outs and downward spirals, Shah finally gets the chance to redeem himself with another chance at the audition. He’d blown it the first time around, and the pressure to get it right the second time got to him so much that he ended up going on a journey that broke him physically and mentally. Still, it also got him a chance to do over and win the role, even after he gets hit by a car and talks to a dead pig in front of the whole world. Even though he trends for all the wrong reasons, the studio sees potential in the simple fact that he is so much in the public eye. But first, Shah patches things up with his friends and family.  When the mess of his own making is cleared up, he goes for the audience. He is still bleeding from the wound from the accident and is in a beat-up state.

But this is his last chance to get the role, so he decides to go for it. Inside the changing room, he looks at himself in the mirror and sees the James Bond version, the one who is suited up and ready to play the role. Shah is not intimidated by that version anymore. He has let go of the expectation of others and the useless weight of validation that he had been carrying around for so long. So, he dresses up and steps on the set. Instead of rolling the whole thing from the beginning, he is told to focus entirely on the monologue, because that’s where he’d faltered the first time around. This time, he delivers the monologue so flawlessly that he is offered the job on the spot. Everyone is impressed by the emotional depth he brings to the line, and the director tells him that she has never seen anyone act that way before.

To formalise things, Shah is asked to say the iconic line, “I am Bond, James Bond.” This confirms that he has the role, which is what he’d wanted all along, but when he starts thinking about it, he knows he couldn’t have done it without his family, without the people who supported him, without the place that he comes from. In the final shot, he doesn’t say the “James Bond” line but says his own name instead. This shows that he has moved past his identity crisis. While the monologue painted Bond as someone who has forgotten who he is, Shah couldn’t have been clearer about it. So, when he says “I am Shah,” he is not rejecting the role of James Bond, but is rather accepting himself and his roots, and he is ready to move forward with this newfound confidence and self-assurance.

What Happens to Shah’s Family? Does He Patch Up With Zulfi?

Over the course of six episodes, as Shah starts to unravel, he realizes that his need for constant validation from his family and relatives is what has been holding him down in a lot of ways. While he calls himself an artist, his true motivations behind acting and desiring the role of James Bond are entirely different. In the final episode, when Felicia picks him up after the accident, he has a dream where she takes him back home. He sees that she has tied up all of his family members and tells him that the only way he can move forward and get the role of James Bond is if he kills them all. Sure enough, Shah shoots them, starting with his father, then Zulfi, then Q, and then his mother.

This dream helps him process things on a metaphorical level. By shooting his family members, he is cleansing himself of the negative thoughts and emotions that have built up inside him. It doesn’t mean that he hates them; rather, it shows him how disrespectful he has been towards them when they have been nothing but supportive to him. His ambition has led him to hurt all of them, and that’s something he wants to make up for. When the dream ends, he wakes up in the hospital and discovers that his father is there too. His family hadn’t gone missing. Rather, they’d come to the hospital after his father fell ill. Despite the way he treated them, they welcomed him with open arms and worried about him.

This reinforces the fact that they love him dearly, and his own shortcomings have been stopping him from reciprocating the same love and support to them. While he patches up with his father, mother, and Q at the hospital, he discovers that Zulfi is at the airport because he is going to Dubai with Salim. Refusing to let his beloved cousin leave like this, he rushes to the airport. He tries to get Zulfi off the plane by painting him as a terrorist, but thankfully, the staff member is not so easily fooled, and more importantly, Zulfi has yet to pass through security check.

He takes Shah aside, believing this to be yet another spiral, but his cousin has never been clearer-headed. Shah apologises and asks Zulfi not to leave for London. Zulfi is moved by his words and actions, but he makes it clear that he’ll still be going to Dubai. He also clarifies that he isn’t permanently moving there. He is going there just to meet with the investors and will be back in four days. Shah is relieved to hear that his cousin is not going anywhere and that things are back to the way they were with them. When Zulfi finally boards his flight, Q points out that there is still enough time for him to make it to his audition, and Shah does exactly that.

Do Q and Salim End Up Together? Does Yasmin Go to Argentina?

While Shah and his race against time to find Zulfi and apologise to him is the main concern, there are other subplots that unfold at the same time. When Shah, joined by Q, arrives at the airport, he crosses paths with Yasmin and her new boyfriend. She’d told him the previous night that she was leaving for Argentina with her boyfriend. At the time, Shah had tried to stop her, and she thinks that he is at the airport to make some grand gesture and try to stop her. When she sees him, she tells him he cannot keep doing this and is surprised when he says he is not there for her but Zulfi. If she hadn’t seen it the night before, she sees a drastic change in Shah now, and even her boyfriend notices this shift in her mindset about her ex.

Her boyfriend is also confused about why she was with Shah the previous night and why she thought he was there to stop her. As their conversation continues, the audience follows Shah to the other side of the airport. However, given that Yasmin had already been having cold feet about the move and because she clearly still has feelings for Shah, it seems that she might be reconsidering her decision, especially now that Shah seems to have changed for the better. We don’t see her get on the flight, so there is a chance that she walked away. Meanwhile, Shah and Q find Zulfi and Salim.

While Shah apologises to Zulfi, Q talks to Salim. Earlier, she had somewhat rejected him when he said he wanted to turn their relationship into something more. However, so much happens at once in the short space of time that she has recalibrated her feelings, which she communicates to Salim. She explains her reservations to her and why she doesn’t want to think about getting married and living off his money. He supports her choices and assures her he will not take away her freedom. They decide to keep their relationship going, to give it a chance, and see where it goes. So, even though Salim returns to Dubai, much like Zulfi, he will be back soon enough.

Read More: Where is Prime Video’s Bait Filmed?